Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along this week. I'm almost finished with my Dahlia cardigan, I just have to knit one more sleeve which I'm already half way through. I have both sleeves still on the needles because I wasn't sure how much yarn I would have left! The first sleeve needs a few more rows of moss stitch (if I have enough yarn!). I'm hoping I'll finish it by the weekend and I can block it - I'm so excited!

As much as I want to finish Dahlia quickly I sometimes just need a break from knitting with the same yarn. I cast on for the Drifty mitten last night, actually late afternoon! And I finished it last night, all except the thumb!

I'm knitting with the same yarn again (Hobby Lobby's I Love This Wool), but using size 6 needles. It has turned out a perfect size for Kristen's hands. Usually mitts that I knit often turn out a little big. I'll probably try to finish Dahlia before I cast on for the second mitten.

I finished reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese last week for our book club, so before I start our next monthly read (which is Girl in Translation) I thought I would pick up the Harry Potter book again. I started the 5th book weeks ago and am not even half way through it. I'd like to get it read so I can watch the movie. I haven't seen the 5th, 6th and 7th movie yet, but I want to read the books first.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Yay, I have Fo's! My first for 2012. I have been knitting up a storm this week. Got my pink socks finished. I realized that the reason they were turning out big was because they were meant to wear over socks! Duh. I am thinking of getting some of that puffy paint stuff to put on the bottom of them to make them non-slip.

I saw this pattern this week on a podcast I was watching (it was an older podcast from Diane at Knitabulls). I am rather addicted to her podcasts right now and keep watching old ones while I wait for her new weekly ones! I would quite happily watch all of them from last year but for some reason they don't show up on my ipad, and that is what I use to watch, while I'm sitting with my feet up knitting!

The pattern is called Drifty It's from the Red Collection by Mandy Powers. I don't like anything with fairisle or intarsia in it because I hate knitting it. . . . or so I thought! I loved the look of this hat so much I wanted to give it a try. What a pleasant surprise to discover that actually fairisle is much easier to knit than intarsia! I discovered something new too. All the time I was knitting intarsia it was so slow going because you had to cross the yarn over, but with fairisle you don't have to actually twist the yarn as you knit. I'm sure most of you all know this already. It makes knitting something like this so much faster than I expected.

I started this yesterday and finished it off this morning! I would have finished it last night but my neighbor came over for a glass of wine so I put it down. But oh my gosh, I just LOVE it, and I am so proud of myself for trying something I thought I didn't like (and finding out I actually do like it)! I didn't have any bulky yarn for it but I thought if I knit the largest size and use worsted weight wool it might turn out the right size for Kristen - and it did :-) I want to order the Lambs Pride Bulky yarn to knit this for me now too, AND make us both a pair of mittens to match. The only sad part is we won't probably wear these until next winter, it already feels like spring here in TX with temps in the 70's this week!!!!

Pattern: Drifty

Yarn: Hobby Lobby's I Love this Wool!

Needles: size US 8

I'm making good progress on my Dahlia cardigan, although I do have to rip one of the sleeves out. I didn't realize I had to start the decreases so soon, so it ended up too long and not decreased enough. I thought it might look ok like that, but it doesn't, and considering the price of this yarn, I know I need to frog it and do it right. I'm on the second sleeve right now and once that is knit (correctly) I'll frog the other one and re-do it.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I thought I'd join in with Ginny's Yarn Along this week. The two things I've been doing most since Christmas is knitting and reading :-) I'm now in two book clubs, my main (real) one, and a 'virtual' online one with some friends.

This week I'm reading Cutting For Stone with my 'real' club, we'll be discussing it at our first monthly meeting on January 19th. I have to say, this is not my kind of read at all, so I'm not really enjoying it, but still plugging away at it . . . it's over 600 pages long!!! I'm also reading a Thomas Kinkaide novel with my online club and I'm really enjoying that one (more my kind of read).

As I mentioned in my last post, I cast on for a pair of socks so I had something small to knit while working on Wray and Dahlia. I'm using THIS pattern on Ravelry, they are called Double Knit Oversocks. Even though I've gone down two needle sizes (the pattern calls for us6 and I'm using us4 dpn's) I still feel like it's a little loose! I know, I know, I should check gauge, and honestly this is the LAST TIME I don't! I really will check my gauge with everything I knit from now on out - promise!

I've come to the conclusion that I have tiny feet - well not tiny in length, I'm a size 7-7/12, but the width of my foot seems very small, either that or I just knit really loose. All of the socks I've ever knit have felt loose and could, in my opinion, be a little smaller for a better/snugger fit.

Still, one sock finished, the key now is to cast on straight away for the second sock or I will be dealing with SSS (second sock syndrome) and will end up with yet another 'lone sock'! Yes I have others sitting in baskets waiting for it's partner!

I'm waiting for a package from Knitpicks this week, I ordered a 16" needle so I can knit the sleeves of Dahlia, doing them on the dpn's is slow going and I keep getting 'ladders'! I'm hoping I can knit them on the 16" for the most part before the decreases start? I've also ordered some sock yarn from them, in cream. I've wanted to knit these socks for ages. . .

They're the Lingerie Socks from Knitty.com You can see them on Ravelry HERE. The picture is linked to the Knitty site. Not sure if I'll make them or pick a different pattern, I'm also wanting to try toe-up remember!

Monday, January 9, 2012

This past week I've been knocked down with allergies, really BAD allergies, Cedar Fever to be exact!!! I've had a sore throat, itchy ears, headaches, no energy, stuffy nose, and now the pressure in my head is so bad I can hardly hear :-( I haven't been to the gym in over a week (again) and I'm feeling pretty sorry for myself. I finally called my ENT Dr this morning, can't get an appointment to see him until Friday! but thankfully he called in a prescription for antibiotics and steroids to help me until then.

Suffice to say, feeling so 'out of sorts' this week, I've been having a lot of down time. Wanna know what I've discovered? Knitting Podcasts!!! VIDEO knitting podcasts to be exact (cos I need the visual). I'm sure I'm way behind the times and you've probably all been listening (or watching) podcasts for years, but I've never really bothered - until now. I have an Ipad an I like sitting on the sofa knitting and watching the podcast while I knit. It's like having a friend there chatting to me, about the one thing I'm passionate about.

So, it's 2012, and it's time to knit for me. And guess what?, I don't know what to knit! Well that's not really true, right now I have Wray and Dahlia on the needles that I cast on last year.

This is as far as I've gotten with Wray, I just divided for the armholes. The ribbing is slow going, but I just love this Lily Kate design and can't wait to wear it!

My Dahlia cardigan is a bit further along than even this photo shows. I've actually picked up one sleeve and am nearly finished it, I've just started the pattern at the cuff. I have vowed not to start any large projects until both of these items are off my needles - please hold me accountable! I am allowing myself one small item along with these two larger ones. The only problem is I don't have much in my stash and therefore I don't know what that small item should be.

Tonight I decided to cast on for a simple pair of socks. I haven't taken pictures today so that will be something I'll share next time. I hope to blog a lot more often on here this year AND visit my knitting friends blogs much more too. I also would like to treat myself to some NICE yarn (read 'not acrylic', and not from Hobby Lobby or Michael's!) but I'd rather I buy it when I know what project I have in mind for it.

A couple of other goals I have for this year (cos I don't call them resolutions, we all know they just get broken!) is to 1) organize my 'stash', the little that I do have, and 2) try and knit a pair of 'toe-up' socks! I seriously have never tried this, and I've been told it's much easier to do and helps the sock fit a lot better too! Is that true? Do you knit 'toe-up'? What do you think?

Well anyway, that's what I'm up to here. Off to read some blogs now. If you pop in to read me, please say hi, I love your comments and will always return the visit.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Wow, here we are at the start of a new year! I haven't blogged here since November, simply because I haven't been knitting much since November!!! I got so busy planning Christmas I didn't even finish all of my Christmas knitting. I was just 4 items short. I did pack up everything else I had knitted and shipped them off to my family in England, but sadly they didn't receive the package until just after Christmas. Oh well,they at least got them and hopefully at some point I will see pictures of them in their knitted attire :-)

As I have mentioned (on a few occasions now), 2012 is gonna be a ME year. I am solely knitting for Me, Moi, pointing finger at self!!! BUT, before I do that, I have 2 hats to finish knitting then I can send the last 4 gifts home.

First thing I will be knitting (or finishing) is my Dahlia cardigan. After that I want to work on Wray that I also cast on last year! Once those two items are knit I will allow myself to browse and pick what I want to knit next. I think I might alternate from a small project to a large one, but it might just depend on how I feel.

I do look forward to blogging more about my knitting here, and visiting more blogs to see what you all have on the needles too. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We had a ton of fun. If you'd like to see pictures you can visit my daily blog HERE.